1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system tower unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Personal computers are generally comprised of three physical components. Firstly, there is the main system unit, which holds most of the computer operation internals such as power supply, circuit boards and disk drives. A keyboard is used for data entry and a display screen or monitor is provided for the display of data. This arrangement is, of course, well-known. Typically, all three of these components are arranged on a desk top with the keyboard placed in front of the system unit and the display screen or monitor placed on top of the system unit. Such an arrangement requires a considerable amount of work surface area, which can be a problem when the user has only a relatively small amount of desk top space available. In an effort to minimize the desk surface area required for a personal computer, the system units have been placed on the floor next to desks or tables. In that configuration, the system units are generally rectangular boxes and are designed to stand with the longest axis in the vertical direction on the floor. These systems are called "tower units."
Presently known system tower units are generally rectangular and box-like in configuration, with the longest axis in the vertical direction. Such presently known tower units typically include a floppy disk drive bay at the top of the tower unit, with the drive bay face being in a vertical plane, which means that the floppy disks are inserted and removed from a substantially horizontal position within the floppy disk drives. This is inconvenient for the user since the user must bend over from his or her desk to load and unload the floppy disk drive units. In some tower units, the floppy disk drives are even mounted for insertion in a vertical plane but again, since the disk drive face is also in a vertical plane, it is necessary for the user to bend over chair in order to have a good view of the floppy disk drive in order to insert and remove a disk. In either situation, the location and orientation of the disk drive units are inconvenient to the user. Another problem with towers are mobility. The tower units are sufficiently large and heavy that it is difficult to move them about since known tower units do not have easily accessible gripping areas.